IP: Finland Diary 5 Jan 1996 [respost with corrected label and

[Dave Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

We are on our way back from warm Finland to the cold east coast (well
relatively warn ~ 0 C). Not much snow and they know how to take care of it.


GG and I were guests of the Helsinki Technical University (HUT) and the new
Helsinki Graduate School of Computer Science (HECSE) - a joint effort
between Helsinki University and HUT. 


We attendedthe HECSE winter conference -- their first. It had the graduate
students and faculty  and both the faculty and students gave talks
about their research (in English) and I gave a research futures talk. It was
very interesting and worthwhile. The conference was held on the cruise ship that
plys the Stockholm - Helsinki waters. We got on at noon Monday and held
lectures that afternoon and most of the following morning then went by bus
to visit KTH and SICS and hear their research perspectives. Then back to the
boat and dinner while on the way home. Neat way to have a retreat. Good food
and pleasant people.


When we got back I attended the inaugural meeting of the HECSE board and
gave a talk on future research and societal impacts of the new information
technology. Very well received.


The next day I visited the Nokia Research Labs and had lunch with the
Director and his Associate Directors of Software and Communications
Research. While I did not have a chance to see what they were doing in any
detail, I was impressed by their very insightful understanding of telecom
and where it was going and the role of industrial labs and academia in that
progress. It was interesting to observe that the funding of Nokia R&D has
steadily increased over the past years and will continue to do so through 1996.


Next day I met with the Director of the Information Systems portion of
Tekes. It is their Governmental organization which funds industrial and
academic high risk applied technology research -- the Finish Academy funds
pure basic research. Finland is in the first group relative to governmental
funding of R&D as a percentage of GNP. A large part of their money goes to
information related activities. They fund little military research and said
there is very little of that done in Finland. The Director pointed out that
the EC contribution to European research is small compared to the national
contributions and when I said it was, in my opinion there to build a
European Science culture, he agreed completely.


That day I had lunch with the head of the Finish Chamber of Commerce and two
key Members of the Parliament. We explored the future societal and technical
issues as they affect Finns and their freedoms, rights and jobs. It was more
than interesting. They were both excellent people who worried about their
nation.


GG and I ate well -- Helsinki has excellent restaurants with a variety that
ranges from California Bistro style to excellent Russian. One interesting
side note, in Helsinki when you reserve a table you have the use of it for
the day if you want. We went into the Bistro at 1300 without a reservation
and were told that we could have a table if we were willing to leave by 1800!!


GG and I went to the opera and symphony and enjoyed the excellent
friendliness of the Finns. A great people.


Technically Finland is a leader in the telecommunications area. They have
the first public internet access capability (FinNet) and have ATM switching
as part of their public service offerings. They have one of the highest
perpetration of cellular in the world on a per cap basis. They are about to
start GSM 1800 service since they have filled the GSM system. BTW GSM makes
US Cellular look like manual switchboards. It provides a range of services
and features that were excellent and that I will miss when I get back to the US.


Finland will shortly change their telephone services in a rather dramatic
way. I will see if I can say more about that in a future note.


Of all the places I have gone, Finland impressed me as a hot bed of
communications innovation and talents. They have the people and the will to
innovate and the support of their government.


One final note, I kept suggesting that the HECSE and SICS/KTH need to
establish a joint education capability in teaching and research utilizing
network technology. The payoff in education, the development of future
products and thus jobs could be enormous. The union of Stockholm and
Helsinki in the telecommunications are would make it a powerhouse even the
US would have a problem matching.